1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire harness, and in particular to a wire harness having a splice connection area where a core wire of a first coated wire is joined to a core wire of a second wire at a middle portion of the first coated wire.
2. Description of Related Art
In many cases, in a wire harness installed in an automobile or the like, a core wire of a coated wire is spliced together with a core wire of a second wire at a middle portion of the coated wire, but in such cases the core wire exposed at the splice connection area and a conductive connecting body are covered by insulating tape, a protective cover, or the like. Also, in a case where the splice connection area is arranged within an area where contact with water may occur, reliable waterproofing is required.
An example of a conventional wire harness having a splice connection area is known in which, for example, a trunk line and a branch line are arranged in a housing provided with a plurality of wire insertion grooves, and a pressure blade having a plurality of slots opposite the wire insertion grooves is mounted to a lid of the housing. When the lid of the housing is closed, coatings of the trunk line and branch line are respectively cut open by the pressure blade and also core wires of each are spliced together by the pressure blade (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H09-022745).
In addition, a configuration is known in which a resin mold covers a splice connection area as well as both edge portions of a coating (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2006-228539).
However, in the first conventional wire harness, where the core wires of both the trunk line and branch line are spliced together by the pressure blade, although splicing workability is favorable, the splice connection area is covered by a lidded housing, leading to the following circumstances.
Specifically, the splice connection area cannot be reliably waterproofed by the housing, and in a case where negative pressure occurs inside the coated wire while the wire harness is in use, for example, water that has adhered in the vicinity of the splice connection area may enter the coated wire and could potentially cause short circuit or the like.
In contrast, the second conventional wire harness, in which the splice connection area and both edge portions of the coating are covered by the resin mold, is capable of waterproofing which prevents water from entering the splice connection area. However, not only does a task of molding the resin mold require time and effort, but the water sealing performance is inadequate and cannot prevent water entering the coated wire at other portions from passing through the splice connection area via capillary action, for example, and entering a control circuit or the like.